The $35 Million Disney Escape

A Different Kind of Disney World

Orlando, Fla. often conjures up images of fairy tale castles, Mickey Mouse ears and all things Disney World (Stock Quote: DIS). For some, watching artificial alligators rise out of the murky waters might be as close to the real thing as they prefer to get. However, Adventureland and the Jungle Cruise just don’t cut it for everyone and for those folks, the happiest place on earth — or at least the happiest place around Orlando — might actually be where Disney World ends and gives way to the wide open and virtually unspoiled inner section of the Sunshine State.
Photo Credit: hyku

A Backyard the Size of Manhattan

Escape Ranch, one of the larger privately held working ranches in central Florida, sprawls across 13,952 acres, an area roughly the same size as Manhattan and about half the size of Disney World. The pristine property, currently owned by Orrin Ingram, president and CEO of Nashville, Tenn.-based Ingram Industries, is being offered turnkey and all-inclusive at the bank-busting price of $35 million. The sale will include all equipment for both cattle and hunting operations, livestock, vehicles, dogs and furnishings, though not all of the artwork, guns and taxidermy will be included in the sale.

Veer Left at Yeehaw Junction

Located not so far from the itty-bitty ghost town of Kenansville, Fla. — home of the Heartbreak Hotel and little else — Escape Ranch sits about two hours north of Palm Beach, 40 miles outside of Orlando and 15 miles south of the ridiculously rural-sounding Yeehaw Junction.
The property is easily accessible by car or, for all the wildly rich and outdoorsy types who can afford a $35 million hunting hideaway, even more easily accessed by a helicopter or private plane capable of landing on one of the two grass airstrips on the property.

Lodge Life

In addition to the six bedrooms and six and a half bathrooms, the lodge includes five screened porches, a dining room, eat-in kitchen and a great room/trophy room that the current owner has filled with a zoo's-worth of zebra skin rugs and exotic taxidermy including a hungry-looking pair of lions that flank the two-story stone fireplace.

Room for Family, Friends and Wildlife Wranglers

In addition to the main lodge, Escape Ranch also has a guest house with two bedrooms, two bathrooms and two screened porches as well as three manufactured homes for staff, a couple of pole barns, a tractor barn, cook and cooler sheds and a 5,000 square-foot dog kennelling facility.

This One's for the Birds

The gigantic estate is considered to be one of the best quail hunting plantations in the southeast U.S. and the current owner, working with a team of full-time staff, have managed the wild quail population for many years and encouraged populations of other wild bird species.

A Hunter’s Paradise

Dirt and grass roads criss-cross the property providing access to established quail hunting courses as well. The property also offers excellent opportunities for hunting deer, turkey, waterfowl and even wild boar. Other animal inhabitants of the ranch include several varieties of crane, burrowing owls and predators such as bobcats, foxes and alligators. The ranch is also rated to carry more than 2,000 heads of cattle.

Want to make an offer?

For more information on the Escape Ranch contact Bill McDavid (406)656-7500 at Hall and Hall in Billings, Mont. or contact Brad Scherer (561)832-3400 at Atlantic Western Realty Corp. in Wellington, Fla.
PHOTO CREDITS: Hall and Hall